Prague Spring

Occurred in the spring of 1968. Began with the beginning of a liberal communist government in Czechoslovakia, led by Alexander Dubèek (who was talked about in The Unbearable Lightness of Being). His idea was “socialism with a human face”; he encouraged debate within the party, academic and artistic freedom, and less censorship. During the Spring of 1968, Dubèek attempted to democratize the Communist party and did not attend a meeting with members of the Warsaw Pact. The Soviet Union then sent in tanks and troops into Prague, which was the beginning of a Soviet-led repressive government. Many Czechs left the country as to escape, and Dubèek and his leaders were imprisoned. The new Soviet rule instituted the Breznev Doctrine, which stated that “no socialist state could adopt policies endangering the interests of international socialism, and that the Soviet Union could intervene in the domestic affairs of any Soviet-block nation if communist rule was threatened”.